CHICAGO - Derek Boogaard is listed as day to day after taking a puck to the head during Friday morning's practice at United Center. It opened a gash that required about 20 stitches and left a wound not disimilar to the one Boris Karloff wore in "Frankenstein."

Asked what hurts worse, a fist or a puck, Boogaard didn't have to think.

"They both hurt," he said.

Ask a stupid question, get an honest answer.

Boogaard said the gash won't keep him from fighting, but it likely will keep him out of Monday's game against Buffalo at Grand Forks, N.D. Wild assistant general manager Tom Lynn said Boogaard is day to day, but the reality is you don't want to send your enforcer out with a big gash waiting to be reopened.

And then there are the details.

"I haven't really tried to put on a helmet yet," Boogaard said. "I don't know how that will go."

Boogaard was hit during a drill Friday at United Center; a shot on goal traveled up Nick Schultz's stick and hit Boogaard just above the left eye. He was taken to the trainer's room and stitched up, given an ice pack and attended to by a doctor.

"There's no head injury or anything like that," Lynn said.

Some players might wear a visor, or even a cage, with such an injury. What about Boogaard?

"Uh, no," he said. "When the doctor looked at me, he said, 'You might need to wear a visor,' and I was like, 'No, that's not going to happen.' "